Meow Mix: Cat Lady Gets Eaten by Feline Horde

A woman in England who lived as a recluse in a house with a large brood of cats and dogs was apparently eaten by her pets after she died!

By the time local authorities discovered the body of 56-year-old Janet Veal, she'd been dead for as long as three months. Her house made for a gruesome scene, littered with the rotting carcasses of numerous pet cats and dogs that had been confined in the house after her death and had died of apparent starvation.

The coroner's report believes that Veal died of natural causes, possibly from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, but discovered evidence that her body had been eaten upon by the cats and dogs that had been in her care, in a desperate attempt to stave off a horrible death by starvation. Only a few of the cats had survived by eating the remains of their owner.

Investigators report that the house was in a complete state of disarray, suggesting that Veal was a hoarder. Many hoarders of personal effects also become pet hoarders, not knowing when to stop adding more animals to their menageries, even when they are rendered unable, physically or financially, to care for them.

Pet Cemetery: Man Uses Fake Dead Cat Claim to Defraud Insurance

A man in Washington State has been charged with fraud after allegedly filing a phony insurance claim for a dead cat that never existed.

Yevgeniy M. Samsonov, 29, was involved in a minor fender-bender in 2009, when the car he was driving was hit in the rear by another car while he was stopped at a red light. Samsonov would later file an insurance claim for soft tissue damage to the face that allegedly took place at the time of the accident. He was eventually awarded $3,452 from the other driver's insurer, PEMCO.

Fast forward two and a half years later, and Samsonov then files a second claim, stating that his beloved pet cat Tom had been killed in the accident. The insurance company initially wrote him out a $50 check for the claim. Samsonov, however, insisted that this was hardly enough restitution money for the loss of his cherished pet feline, claiming he had paid over a thousand dollars for the animal and that he was "like a son" to him.

Samsonov also sent photographs of "Tom" to the insurance company, asking for $20,000 to cover the loss of the cat. Before forking over another check, the insurance company decided to do a little bit of investigating, googling images of white cats with blue eyes, as in the photograph Samsonov had sent them. They quickly discovered that Samsonov had submitted photographs of "Tom" to various web sites. They also discovered that the photographs were actually of two entirely different cats.

Samsonov has been charged with first-degree attempted theft and felony insurance fraud, with an arraignment scheduled for next week.